Quiet Music For Tuba, Timpani, and Percussion was first performed in 1977 by Cherry Beauregard, John Beck, and Ruth Cahn at the Eastman School of Music. Dedicated to Cherry Beauregard, the piece is centered around an interplay of timbres between the tuba and timpani, contrasted against the high pitched sounds of metallic percussion (tubular chimes, crotales, tam tam, tuned gongs, sleighbells, and suspended glockenspiel). The music tends to the contemplative rather than the bombastic possibilities of the ensemble.